Read Mixed User Reviews for Beautiful Creatures (2013)

6

MarcDoyleFeb 22, 2013

This one took me by surprise. It has much more charm and passion behind it than I though it would. It just gets a touch boring around the mid-point, but the end ultimately rescues it. The leads are well-cast, and the veteran supportingThis one took me by surprise. It has much more charm and passion behind it than I though it would. It just gets a touch boring around the mid-point, but the end ultimately rescues it. The leads are well-cast, and the veteran supporting actors (Irons, Davis, Rossum, Thompson) are terrific they didn't get the message that you're supposed to mail it in for this type of paycheck movie. Viola Davis, in particular, is outstanding in her smallish role.… Expand

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6

TVJerryFeb 21, 2013

It's opposite day in teen romance world: Instead of vampires, it's witches (or Casters, as they call them). Instead of Portland, the deep South. Instead of a mortal girl, it's a boy, He (Alden Ehrenreich) isn't a pretty boy, but has charm andIt's opposite day in teen romance world: Instead of vampires, it's witches (or Casters, as they call them). Instead of Portland, the deep South. Instead of a mortal girl, it's a boy, He (Alden Ehrenreich) isn't a pretty boy, but has charm and personality. She (Alice Englert) isn't typical pretty either, but can act OK. Much of the screen time is spent with the two of them talking. Not much real drama is generated. There are some decent special effect sequences, but nothing dazzling. The supporting stars (Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson, Viola Davis) add most of the movie's character. It's never outright bad and may appeal to young fans of the novel, but if you're looking for a mismatched romance see "Warm Bodies" instead.… Expand

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6

Brutus54Mar 17, 2013

OK. Extra points for nice production design, engaging characters, and reasonable special effects. Basically, this is just romantic posturing by teenagers in a supernatural context, but with lots of humourous touches, and with a strongOK. Extra points for nice production design, engaging characters, and reasonable special effects. Basically, this is just romantic posturing by teenagers in a supernatural context, but with lots of humourous touches, and with a strong evocation of plantation life and environments not to mention good ol' boy/girl redneck values. Jeremy Irons stands out in the supporting cast, probably because of his hideous cravat. And any movie that makes you feel as if you have missed out on something important by not reading (and particularly by not reading Vonnegut and Bukowski) deserves a speciql commendation.… Expand

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5

mrgamesandstuffFeb 18, 2013

The director of Beautiful Creatures obviously has an obsession to the popular Twilight series. For almost the entire movie I felt as if I was watching a remake of Eclipse with a twist that it was about witches instead of vampires. SpecialThe director of Beautiful Creatures obviously has an obsession to the popular Twilight series. For almost the entire movie I felt as if I was watching a remake of Eclipse with a twist that it was about witches instead of vampires. Special effects were decent but sub-par compared to the new standards set by movies like Prometheus and The Avengers. Really only a few characters stand out from the rest and it is disappointing to see that their talent in acting may have been wasted on this movie. The plot was what was really disappointing overall however. From the beginning of the movie you may have difficulty following along and each event is hardly strung together. This movie would have done much better if the director had decided to break the movie into a possible two or three part series. While normally I would never want to see a movie like this be able to have a sequel, I believe that if it had then the cast would have been able to work on the story more and possibly progress into a movie that could have been at least decent. It is frustrating to see a movie with potential fall so short of expectations like this. If you truly are a fan on Twilight than you might enjoy this but for anyone else, I suggest saving your money.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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6

diego9901Feb 15, 2013

esta película recicla de una manera excelente lo mejor de la saga de crepúsculo y de harry potter y promete ser un éxito debido a su material de origen

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4

ThegodfathersonMar 26, 2013

The tween magic is the only only reason you can watch Beautiful Creatures. The film is a very oddball creation based on the best selling book by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl was better in paper but Beautiful Creatures mixed its special CGIThe tween magic is the only only reason you can watch Beautiful Creatures. The film is a very oddball creation based on the best selling book by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl was better in paper but Beautiful Creatures mixed its special CGI effects with a good screenplay and story but still lacks in spaces that need to be fixed. This film is known for its bad effects and direction but in the end it does deliver some odd fun.… Expand

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6

SpangleOct 26, 2016

Alden Ehrenreich. Jeremy Irons. Viola Davis. Emma Thompson. Thomas Mann. Emmy Rossum. Zoey Deutch. Alice Englert. A talented cast of actors appear in this mixed bag of great, good, bad, and awful that is Beautiful Creatures. Greenlit in theAlden Ehrenreich. Jeremy Irons. Viola Davis. Emma Thompson. Thomas Mann. Emmy Rossum. Zoey Deutch. Alice Englert. A talented cast of actors appear in this mixed bag of great, good, bad, and awful that is Beautiful Creatures. Greenlit in the aftermath of the Twilight earthquake and directed by Richard LaGravanese, Beautiful Creatures has some elements that really win you over and make the viewer forget any possible connection to Twilight. Other moments remind you that this is a young adult film crafted to appeal to teenage girls who loved Twilight, while only intermittently providing enjoyment for the sacrificial lamb of a boyfriend. Yet, for film fans, Beautiful Creatures is not wholly unredeemable and, actually, by the end I had quite a good time with this one.

First, the negatives. Beautiful Creatures often resembles Gilligan's Island, in terms of its script with this cast of actors. Much like the actors in Gilligan's Island, the cast of Beautiful Creatures is left stranded on an island with nothing but some magic powers to try and claw their way back to shore. Somehow, they occasionally do, but this does not stop the writers from having Emma Thompson gleefully exclaim, "Well slap my ass and call me Sally!" This line is actually said in the film by Emma Thompson's character, Sarafine Duchannes. That said, much of the bad writing comes courtesy of the film's attempts to appeal to its target demographic. Telling the story of a high school boy, Ethan Wate (Ehrenreich) who falls in love with Lena (Alice Englert), Beautiful Creatures is essentially the reversal of Twilight. Here, Lena is a "caster", which is essentially a witch, but not called a witch. As a 15-year old, she is nearing the time when she will be claimed on her 16th birthday. Her mother, Sarafine, is a dark caster. She uses her powers for evil. Ridley (Rossum), her cousin, was also claimed for the dark side and is now a siren (some inspirational casting right there). Women are doomed to be claimed based on their own internal inclinations. Men, however, can switch. This is the case for Lena's uncle, Macon (Irons). Though a dark caster, he turns to the light side for Lena's sake to try and keep her light. This is all important because whether she goes dark or light will determine the fate of the universe. The more I write this, the more it feels like Star Wars dropped into the modern day with some Civil War flashbacks (women in the Duchannes bloodline are cursed to be dark because of some Duchannes woman in the Civil War who brought her mortal significant other back to life). As you can tell, this one gets a bit outlandish at times. Yet, it remains always watchable even when the film refuses to own its silliness.

As one review I read stated, the film needs a bit of "Tim Burton's charm". This is certainly fair and while, given his present output, he probably would have dropped the ball, Beautiful Creatures as directed by Tim Burton would be a way better film. This outlandish plot leads to a lot of playing it straight. Yet, unintentional humor is afoot in this film and is indiscernible from actual jokes. The actual jokes do work quite often here, but the amount of unintentional humor really does hold this one back from transcending expectations even further. This is where Burton would have come in, as the film would have felt light and silly in spite of the serious consequences of the plot.

Romantically, the chemistry between Ehrenreich and Englert is actually very good. They can charm you socks off with the idealistic look at love and romance, which really captures the element that can make teenage romance films so watchable at times. It does not hurt they are solid actors, though the dialogue does do some damage to their acting skills in this one. Thematically, the film is incredibly tight. With romance films, the film's approach to love is what always captivates me the most. Here, Beautiful Creatures effectively shows the duality of love. Rather than spelling it out for you, the film uses visuals and character actions to showcase how love can single-handedly lead you out of the darkness, but love and the pain it can cause can throw you into the fire. The climactic sequence, even if it has some clunky dialogue, really does nail this theme very well and, more than anything else, this portion made me the most satisfied. In terms of religion, the film takes an interesting approach. The first hour seems very anti-Christian, but the second half clears this up entirely through Viola Davis' character, Amma. A keeper, or protector, of casters, Amma is a Christian. Through her the film showcases that, while casters may be written off as abominations of Satan by the overly Christian community, it only makes sense that if God created everything, he created them as well. This feels shockingly close to my argument for evolution and rectifying it with religion. For this, Beautiful Creatures is even better in my eyes.… Expand